


these roads don't move

by torchsong (brella)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Popsicles, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 05:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14847032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brella/pseuds/torchsong
Summary: To his credit, Tadashi makes it about halfway down the block with his ice cream cone before gesticulating too excitedly while telling Tsukishima about what's been happening inNarutoand accidentally flinging it onto the sidewalk.





	these roads don't move

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wickedcherub](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedcherub/gifts).



> For Tina, for the acts of intimacy meme: sharing a dessert.
> 
> The concern at the forefront of my mind while writing this was: _I have to make sure it's clear that they don't litter_.

To his credit, Tadashi makes it about halfway down the block with his ice cream cone before gesticulating too excitedly while telling Tsukishima about what's been happening in _Naruto_ and accidentally flinging it onto the sidewalk.

For a moment, he and Tsukishima stand side-by-side, staring down at it—Tsukishima characteristically impassive, Tadashi frozen mid-smile. A crow caws from a nearby telephone wire, dangerously close to a mocking laugh.

“Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima says emptily to the remains, and only then does Tadashi gather the faculties to yell wordlessly in horror, hands flailing helplessly in all directions. 

"My reward!" he wails, because that was what it was supposed to be.

The day's practice had been particularly grueling—Takeda-sensei had told them, somewhat apologetically, that Ukai's horrible mood was most likely owing to the fact that the air conditioner had gone out at the store and would cost an alarming amount of yen to fix—and the only thing that had gotten Tadashi through the endless litany of diving drills and complicated attack formations that ended more often than not in a collision was the promise of ice cream with Tsukishima afterwards. Of course, Sakanoshita's was a bust, but they'd stopped by the convenience store on the way to Tadashi's house, where the old lady owner who was friends with Tadashi’s mom had given them a ten yen discount each. 

"Don't mind," Tsukishima deadpans.

"You're not helping!" Tadashi punches his arm resentfully without force. Tsukishima wobbles regardless. "Aw, man... that was the last of the money I brought today, too..."

"Here," Tsukishima says abruptly, and extends his unwrapped but untouched suika bar. "You can have mine."

Tadashi stares in bewilderment at it, then Tsukishima's half-lidded, impassive eyes, then back again. The crow on the wire is laughing much more incessantly now.

"Huh?" Tadashi finally blurts out.

Tsukishima bobs the popsicle up and down, his face giving nothing away. "I said you can have it."

There is no further explanation. Tadashi suspects that if there were, it would do nothing to stem the heat rising to his ears, but maybe he wouldn’t want it to. As if it isn't hot enough out in the middle of July. Tsukki is too powerful. 

"Ts—Tsukki, I don't wanna take yours," he says, waving his hands slightly and leaning back. "You paid for it, and you worked really hard today, so..."

"You're so weird," Tsukishima mutters. "You worked hard, too."

"Let's just split it," Tadashi says, more loudly than he has any reason to. His voice cracks on the third word. That is usually what happens when Tsukishima says something nice about him. He wishes that it would stop usually happening.

Tsukishima, however, seems unfazed by the suggestion. He shrugs one shoulder and replies, in the usual fashion, "Whatever."

Before they go on walking, Tadashi pulls a few tissues from the supply in his bag and cleans the mess off of the street, tossing the wad of them into a nearby trash bin while Tsukishima waits, taking bites directly out of the popsicle, down to the stick, as is his custom.

"Monster!" Tanaka had choked out once when he'd seen Tsukishima do it. "He's a monster!"

"Takes one to know one," Tsukishima had replied with a snicker, and Nishinoya had needed to physically restrain Tanaka after that.

Tsukishima and Tadashi pass the popsicle intermittently to each other as they walk, and Tadashi rushes to finish his share before the setting summer sun melts it onto his fingers. The taste is sweet and nostalgic, reminding him of tests he'd passed and report cards he'd brought home with high marks and long afternoons chattering about dinosaurs on the tatami mat floor of Tsukishima's bedroom as three fans ran on full blast and crickets chirruped in the yard.

"You can have the rind," Tsukishima says when they've gotten down to the last of it.

Tadashi beams. The lime-flavored rind has always been his favorite part of suika bars.

"Thank you very much!" he crows formally, bowing for good measure.

"You always get so worked up about stuff," Tsukishima says without reproach. "That's why you're always dropping things."

"Sorry, Tsukki," Tadashi singsongs out of habit before chomping off half of the rind, humming cheerfully as he chews.

Tsukishima suddenly reaches over and swipes the stick out of his hands, taking the last bite for himself. Tadashi yelps in offense.

"You said I could have it!"

"Changed my mind," Tsukishima drones.

Tadashi scrunches his eyes closed and grits his teeth resentfully. "Tsuk- _ki_!"

"It was good," Tsukishima says defenselessly, like that's supposed to excuse his greed.

Tadashi sighs, slumping his shoulders, and they round the corner to his street, and it doesn't even register with him that they'd passed Tsukishima's three blocks ago.

"It was," he agrees with a mournful shake of his head, but when he lifts it again, he can't help but grin. "Thanks, Tsukki! You're a generous friend!"

"Yes, yes," Tsukishima grumbles, but there's a diffident, elusive smile taking shape on his face, too. "You survived; we survived. Let's both... do our best tomorrow, or whatever."

Tadashi wonders at him and the sentiment for a moment, speechless. Tsukishima walks only two steps ahead of him before he stops, still not content to leave him behind even for a moment. The light of the setting sun glints fleetingly on his glasses when he turns around, slouching.

“Yamaguchi?” he prompts him, and it blends with the restless cicadas and the far-off crow and the near-imperceptible buzz of the evening heat, and it sounds like the mountains in summer, and it sounds timeless, and Tadashi will never get tired of the shapes it takes in Tsukishima's voice, just a little different each time.

Tadashi's heart swells with fondness and a ridiculous, overwhelming pride. "Yeah!" he exclaims, loping forward and clapping Tsukishima, hard, on the back, beaming at the grouchy " _oi_ " it earns him. "Let's do our best!"

"I take it back," Tsukishima grumbles halfheartedly, but Tadashi is laughing, full and inexplicable, and the words recede until they’ve given into the sound, as comfortably inconsequential as the branches of the trees welcoming the wind as it rushes in from the sea. Tadashi walks ahead through the entryway when they get to his house, and Tsukishima makes sure to close the door behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> [title](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs-R44Hlh5k).


End file.
